Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope everyone has been enjoying the season. I love this time of the year and I'm soaking up every last second ;) Unfortunately that's meant that I've neglected the blog, but I wanted to post today to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I saw this survey floating around and I figured it would be fitting to answer it today so here we go.

1.      Favorite Christmas Album/CD/Song? I like to buy a new album (or 2) every year. This year I'm listening to Christina Perri and Colbie Caillat.

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2.      Run on Christmas morning or take the day off?  I always run or walk on my treadmill for at least a little while on Christmas morning before I head over to my brother's for the day. Of course I do it while watching a Christmas movie :)

3.What do you usually eat on Christmas morning?  I don't eat anything special Christmas morning.  After reading other answers to this survey I think I need to establish a new tradition here though.

4.   Favorite holiday or Christmas tradition? Growing up we always went to my grandparents' on my mom's side on Christmas Eve and those are my favorite memories of this time of the year :) I am so happy that my brother bought their house when they passed and he has carried on the tradition. We're a big family and our gatherings are always so much fun.  Oh, and Santa comes to visit which makes it even more exciting for the kids :)

5.   Real tree, fake tree or no tree?  My parents get a real tree so that's what I grew up with, but there is no way I'd go to all that trouble myself :P My apartment is not huge so I bought a little fake tree and it's perfect. 



Clearly that is not my tree :P But it is my favorite and I've been lucky enough to see it the last few years!

6. Christmas pajamas… yay or nay? I implemented a new tradition last year so now the rule is we wear pyjamas on Christmas day. We haven't gone as far as getting matching pyjamas though!

7. Where do you spend the holidays? Christmas Eve is at one of my brother's house, and Christmas Day is at my other brother's house.  We used to do Christmas Day at my parent's but it's easier to do it at my brother's now since they have the kids :)

8.   Food that you always have during the holiday season? Favorite Christmas food/treat?

I have 2 favorites: shortbread cookies and magic cookie bars. They are both things we only make at Christmas so I enjoy them while I can!

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9. Open presents all at once or take turns? We take turns.  The kids start, and then it's the adults turns!

10. Favorite Christmas(ish) movie? I watch Little Women every year while I'm wrapping. I also watch way too many of those made for tv Christmas movies :P

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Merry Christmas! I hope Santa spoils you :)

Bake Sales and Cookie Swaps

Hey Guys!

Well, I survived the whole allergy test process! We discovered that I'm allergic to chemicals found in most shampoos, conditioners, body washes, moisturizers, and facial cleansers.  My dermatologist recommended a brand but it is expensive, especially considering how much conditioner I go through with my long hair, so I'm on the lookout for something a little more affordable.  Do any of you have similar allergies?

I also need your advice on how to deal with spam on Blogger. I've been getting a lot of comments from "Anonymous" and somehow the real comments on my last post were all deleted last week :( So, if you commented just know that I didn't delete it and I had replied! I love getting feedback from you guys so I'd hate for you to think I was just ignoring you!!!

I've been spending a lot of time baking these past few days. We're having our annual bake sale at work today and I'm also participating in a couple of holiday cookie swaps. So, I thought I'd share some of the recipes I've made or am going to make! They are all Pinterest finds, but I've linked to the original recipe.

White Chocolate Peppermint M&M Cookies



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Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

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White Chocolate Candy Cane Truffles

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Pineapple Coconut Snowballs



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And, I found this cake that I would love to be talented enough to make! How cool is this?!

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Have you guys been busy Christmas baking too? What are your favorite recipes?

4 Days Without Sweat

Hey!

How was everyone's weekend? I was pretty jealous of all the Thanksgiving celebrations going on in the U.S. I think I might start having two Thanksgivings just as an excuse to have pumpkin pie again :)

This week is going to be quite challenging for me on the workout front. You see, I crave a good sweat session pretty much every day. I will fully admit to being guilty of committing the "too much cardio" sin. What can I say, it makes me happy!

But, for the next 4 days, I am not allowed to sweat :( I have to go for allergy tests, which means I'll have patches on my back that I cannot get wet. So, no running, no going all out on the elliptical, no Zumba, no Step... you get the picture ;)

In an effort to be positive, I'm trying to think of this as an opportunity to focus on strength which, as you know, is a struggle for me.

As luck would have it, one of the Elf for Health challenges this week is to try a new workout. (If you haven't already signed up for Elf for Health it's not too late to join in the next round!) So I downloaded this barre workout from Cathe. I am a huge fan of her workouts and I don't doubt that I'll be feeling the pain the day after I do this one!

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I also plan on breaking out my Chalean Extreme dvds.  I started using these around this time last year and it was the first time I didn't dread strength training so much that I just completely avoided it ;)

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I'm still hoping to get some light cardio in, probably in the form of walking. Not much chance of my breaking a sweat doing that in Ottawa in November ;)

Any advice for me on surviving the next 4 days?!?!

UK Trip Recap - Part 2

Hi :)

As promised here are some pictures of the rest of my trip!

We took a day trip from London to Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Oxford.  The castle was really cool; it is owned by Madam Tussaud's so they had wax figures throughout depicting every day life and they also had lots of activities set up for Halloween and characters wandering around like this headless horseman!

Stratford-upon-Avon is a really cute town where Shakespeare was born. We chose not to go into the museum there and walked around instead.  That's how we stumbled upon this giant teddy bear that I would have loved to take home with me.

Oxford was my favorite stop of the day. I will forever be a student at heart and I would have loved to study there. What a gorgeous campus! Who knows, maybe there is a PhD in my future?!

 

We also a day trip from Edinburgh to Loch Lomond and Stirling Castle. The lake was gorgeous and it was really nice to see some of Scotland's country side. Not to mention that our guide sounded like Shrek which is always entertaining ;) 

 

We spent the next few days in Edinburgh, which is such a gorgeous city! I loved the architecture and it is the perfect city for just wandering around and getting lost since there are so many interesting side streets to explore.  We went to the castle, which was my mom's favorite castle of our trip, and Holyrood Palace, shopped along the Royal Mile, and ventured up toward Arthur's Seat.

Oh, and on our last night we figured we should partake in some Scottish culture and tried our first whisky! That stuff was strong! Let's just say I don't think whisky will become my drink of choice any time soon ;) 

This was truly an amazing trip and I'm glad I got to go with my mom. Now she knows why I love Europe so much :) I really can't wait until my next trip!